[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2110, the first 6 weeks
With highs and lows and what not.

The 2110 season is in full swing. The Maassluis Merchantmen have played a tough stretch, with three on the road and with 4 of 5 opponents teams that had a winning record last season.

Week 1 at Gothenburg
No slow start to the 2110 season, the schedule makers decided to put the European Division blockbuster game as a season opener at the reigning European champions. It turned into a game of two tales, as Gothenburg rushed to a 27-6 lead at halftime. We decided to replace QB Harrison Singleton with QB Billy Russell and with the veteran under center, we rallied back to a 27-23 deficit. Then the Giants woke up again and built their lead back up into a solid victory. QB Singleton threw for 112 yards, QB Russell for 82 yards. Russell threw for the only Merchantmen touchdown of the game to WR Jessie Vertelney, who had 106 yards receiving. LB Gus Coleman made an interception and forced a fumble. DE Frank Bernard had 1.5 sacks.
Result: 23-37 loss


Week 2 at Hanalei
Hoping to bounce back as we were visiting the Dragons that went 6-10 last season, we were in for a disappointment. The big difference was made by the red zone efficiency (and 10 yards up to it), as Hanalei scored twice on 30-yard passes while we settled for a 30 and a bit field goals three times. QB Harrison Singleton threw for 250 yards. DE Howie Tucker had 1.5 sacks.
Result: 9-28 loss

Week 3 vs Atlanta
The best remedy to an 0-2 start is a sound victory in your first home game of the season. It started bad as although we stopped them on their first drive with an interception, QB Harrison Singleton replied it by throwing a pick six. From there on, the game was stingy, with a bunch of big plays turning into touchdowns. We had WR Calvin Maxwell score on a 90-yard kickoff return and CB Will Warrick on a 64-yard punt return, while the Vipers had a 94-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. We played out the final 5 minutes of the game with a rock solid drive that concluded in a victory clinching field goal. QB Harrison Singleton threw for 202 yards and a touchdown to rookie TE Ted Gordon. DT Efrain Hutchins had 1.5 sacks.
Result: 32-27 victory

week 4 bye
It never gets old, we had our bye week early in the season.
Result: Gothenburg won, Bordeaux lost

week 5 vs Tucker
And then the team as a collective got red hot. Not just a little bit, we made the undefeated Tigers look like they forgot how to play football. Despite their strong running game, they reverted to throwing the ball a lot, and I mean a whole lot. But in 67 passing plays, only 22 of them resulted in a completed pass, while our defense completely bullied them: 5 interceptions, 6 sacks, 14 more hurried or blocked passes and 10 passes defended. QB Harrison Singleton threw for 311 yards with touchdowns to WR Calvin Maxwell and WR Jessie Vertelney (114 yards receiving for the day). RB Bennett Holmes ran for 109 yards and shared the running touchdowns with QB Singleton and RB Marcus Jorg for 1 each. CB Joel Delgado and CB Byron Sokol scored an interception return touchdown late in the fourth quarter when the game was pretty much over already. LB Gus Coleman had 1 interception, 1 forced fumble and 2 defended passes. DE Frank Bernard had 3.0 sacks, DT Gabriel Morris 2.5 sacks. CB Skip Horner had 1 interception and 2 defended passes.
Result: 52-23 victory.

week 6 at Augusta
As to be expected after such a shockingly big win, we fell back to earth in the road game at the strong Greenjackets. In particular their offense is top notch and last season was quite a shocker they missed the playoffs (we beat them in our house in overtime). I'm tempted to say we had our chances, but at the same time, a couple of times we shook ourselves into sleep while owning their passing game (we held an elite QB to 150 yards passing) as two big runs for 72 and 80 yards jump out on the box score and explain the difference in total yardage. The rest of the game our defense held them to field goals, but as our offense struggled in return, we wasted our chances to kick for a game tier and later on forgot to attempt to throw into the end zone in the dying seconds. QB Harrison Singleton threw for 229 yards, with 1 touchdown pass to WR Calvin Maxwell. S Dan Peterson scored a touchdown on a long fumble return.
Result: 20-26 loss

European Division
1. Gothenburg 5-1
2. Paris 3-2
3. Maassluis 2-3
4. Bordeaux 1-4

Our next stop will be in Paris and we will hope to extend our I-lost-count-long winning streak against them. They were no match for us in either game last season, but they have already tied their win total of last season, eking out their three home games with two come back from behind wins and a very impressive beatdown of the Orlando Talons today. And the season won't get much easier after that. The week 17 home game against Paris could be the only one where we're legitimately huge favorites in any of those 11 remaining regular season games...